Sheet-delivery mechanism for printing-presses.



B. D. STEVENS 61; M. A. DROITOOUR.

SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLIOATION FILED 0017.18, 1911.

1,112,395, I Patented Sept.29;1914.

STEVENS & M. A. DROITGOUR. SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PMNTING- PRESSES.

APPLIOATION FILED OCT 18,-1911.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHBET 4 SHEETS-"SHEET 3.

B. D. STEVENS & M. A. DROITGOUE.

SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED OOT. 1B,1911.

Patemafi Sept. 25*, 1.9.3.4.,

B. D. STEVENS & M. A. DROI-=TCOUR. SHEET DELIVERY MEGHANISM FOP. PRINTING PRESSES.

' LPPLIOATIOH FILED OCT. 18. 1911.

131123395. Patented Sept.29,1914..

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4 the .i'iy delivery mechanism.

other ob ects and advantages, will be made UNITED srarnsrarnnr OFFICE.

BURT D. STEVENS, 0F RIVERSIDE, AND MICHAEL DEOI'ICOU'R, OE CHICAGQILIJI- NOIS, ASSIGNORS 'TO INIIEHLE PRINTING PRESS &, MIANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A'CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SHEET-DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING-PRESSES. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed Sept.'29, 1914:.

Application filed October 18,1911. Serial No. 655,442.

To ail 11271012 it may concern:

Be it known that we, BURT D. STEVENS, of Riverside, county of Cook, and State of-Illinois, and hllICI-IAEL A. Dnorrcoun, of Ohicago, in said county and State, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Delivery Mechanisms for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a sheet delivery mechanism for printing presses the parts of which are so constructed and arranged that. the device will deliver the sheets either printed side 'up or printed-side down on the delivery pile with but very little manipulation in shifting from what may be characterized the main delivery mechanism to the fly delivery.

\Ve propose to use for the maindelivery what may be termed a mutilated endless conveyor, to which the sheets of paper are individually fed and carried over the pile, the construction being such that the conveying portion of the mutilated carrier passes out from beneath the paper after it arrives over the pile, so that the sheets drop individually onto the pile in proper position,

The omitted part of the endless conveyer permits the use of the fly delivery in place of the mechanism referred to, and under such circumstances the paper-carrying portion of tliemutilated delivery device is temporarily housed or accommodated beneath These. with apparent from a consideratioirof the following detailed description of a plurality of embodiments of the invention which are illustrated on-the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecificatiomto which reference should be had for a complete comprehension of the invention.

In the drawings,-Figure l is a partial elevation and partial section of aprinting press delivery mechanism embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged the main delivery mechanism illustrating the manner in which it carries the sheets over the delivery pile and drops them upon such pile; Fig. 3 shows the disposition of the parts of the mechanism just as a sheet of paper is being advanced thereto; Fig.- 4 is a pla1i=view of the mechanism, the parts being section of n the position indicated in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-section on line 5-5 of Fig. Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section on line ti 6 of Fig. 2 5 Fig. 7 isa view similar to Fig 2 illustrating another embodiment of the invention; Fig. 8 isa cross-section on l ne f 3-8 of Fig. 9; Fig. 9 is a cross-section "'Qn line 99 of Fig. 7; and, Fig.'l0 is a iragmentary cross-section showing the bar which causes the rotation of the rollers so constructed that it presses the sheets of paper to the rollers. 15y reference to the drawings, it will be observed that the frame 20 of the printing press at its delivery end is provided with a table 21 for the accommodation of the delivery pile of sheets. At and above each side of the table, the appliance is equipped with a suitably supported endless sprocketchain 22 of'general horizontal disposition,

which passes around two end. spr'ocketwheels 23 and 24, and also co-acts with an intermediate sprocket-wheel 25 and an idlersp'rocket: 26. Preferably, these pairs of sprocket-wheels are mounted on cross-shafts 27, 28, 29 and 30, the chains being driven in any approved manner, but desirably by means of the rotation of the lower shaft 27 by a sprocket-chain 31 cooperating with a sprocket-wheel 32 on the end of shaft 27 and another sprocket-wheel 33 on a lower shaft {54, the latter being rotated by suitable drivmg means in any approved or desirable manner. Portions-of the lengths of the chains 22, desirably but not necessarily appivotal jointfor adjacent chain links 39 and t0, for example.

As is shown in Fig. 5, the bottom strands or stretches of the endless sprocket-chains 22 travel and rest on the top edges of a pair of supporting-bars 42, the inner ends 4301'? which are bent downwardly-as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive. The two sprocketchainsand the interposed rollers 35 constitute what may be aptly characterized as a mutilated endless conveyer, to which the I sheets of paper- 4.4 are advanced by means of the customary endless tapes 45 passing.

5 around suitable pulleys or drums. Above one.end portion of the rollers when they are above the delivery table '21, we mount,

at one side of the machine, on a suitable support and by means of a pair of parallel links' lG and 4:7, :inanglc-friction bar 48 car-.

' rying on. its under surfacje'a facing: 49 of forwardly with their supporting chains, the'. speed of rotation rearwardly being the same as that of their forward travel, so that a sheet of paper supported on such rollers,

after it arrives over the delivery pile, re-.

- mains stationary while the rollers pass out from beneath, it, after which it falls by gravity upon the pile on the table 21. The advanceor. foremost roller has on one end:

a sleeve or collar 41 adapted'whilc beneath theb-ar48 to hold the latter elevated suili ciently above the other rollers to prevent the engagement of its leather facing with such rollers. Consequently these rollers, with the exception of the first one, 50, do not begin to rotate on their own axis until after the roller 50 passes out from beneath the endof the friction bar 48, and when this occurs, the sheet of paper carried by the remaining rollers will be positioned above the delivery pile and will not travel farther; or, in other words, will remain substantially stationary, and will gradually descend, the rear end first, onto the delivery pile as the rollers escape from beneath it. i From the abovedescription and the illustration referred to, it will be apparent that this mutilated endless conveyer makes a complete cycle of travel around the various sprocket wheels for the" delivery of each sheet of paper, the direction of travel of'the.

sprocket-chains and rollers being indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2' and 3. As soon as the roller 50 arrives under the inner endof the friction bar 48, as shownrin Fig. 3, it lifts such bar sufficiently so that as the other. rollers 35 come beneath the bar, the latter does not contact with their end portions. As we have shown in Fig. 3, the printed sheet of paper is fed forwardly on'the tapes 45 so that its front end falls upon the roller 35 adjacent or just to the rear of the roller- 50, and as the various succeeding rollers come into horizontal alinement with those preceding them, the sheet of paper 44 is fed thereupon and conveyed by suchroller for- -wardly over the delivery pile, as shown in Fig. 2. Just as it reaches this r'egister-witl the pile on the table 21, the collar 41 on bar. 48,-wliich then, by its own weight, descends so that its leather facing contacts with the end portions of the remaining rollers; then, as the chains and these rollers continue their travel, all of the rollers'are revolved rearwardly at, the same speed that they travel forwardly, whereby ;they pass out from, beneath and without disturbing thepositionof'the paper, which drops upon the pilefi Then these varibus' rollers pass back upon the-top stretches of thechains, and by the'timethe roller 50 again reaches the" position shown in Fig. 3,-the next sheet 4 f has been fed down by the-tapes to be deposited upon the rollers 35 and delivered to the pile in the manner indicated.

Qn tlieshaft 30, the customary .fly delivery sticks '51'are mounted, and the shaft by any a-p roved mechanism, not illustrated. Obviously; the rollers "35' must not inter; fere with the sheets, when delivered to the pile by the fly sticks 5l, and in order to acthesef c'ircuhistances, the travel of the sprocket-[chains is interrupted so long as the fly ,mechanism is employed, whereby the with the'rollers inposition so as not to interfere with the actuation of the'fly sticks, remainiin such inoperative position until required for delivery on their own part.

l'ncas e 'the weight of the sheet of paper is not suflicien-t to cause adequate friction between e same and the rollers during the rotation of the latter in a backward direction, to preventthe sheet from traveling. forwardly with such rollers, the bar 48 may be made of sufficient width, as shown in Fig? 10, to overlap a portion of the sheet of paper for the, purpose of creating the friction referred 'to, or other suitable means may be'employed for the same purpose.

In Figs. ,7,8 and 9, we have illustrated a suction ,device forfrictionally holding the paper to the rollers during their backward rotation. The 'device in this case is practically the same as described above, but has in I ad ition the suction meansmentioned. T is comprises a modificationin the construction of the rollers themselves. In this embodiment, each roller is,in reality, a sleeve GQ-provided with ,a considerable number o'f.;annularly arranged apertures 61 aP ;;-d .i1 i lv 6; t bebi z u at s vee e y t registenkwith por io Qfa e w r ho w. 6

ried the two stretches of sprocket-chains sprocket-chains, having been once stopped corresponding ,apertui;es 62 through, the top.

isrockcd for the fly delivery of the sheets 'ccmp'lis'h this, the sprocket 23 and its shaft 1 when the latter is being actuated. Under 1 and having its interior in communication,

chain 22, and this belt is apertured at iTj in register with the holes in the'conn'i iQ insf 64L and in register with the slot 67 In't'his construction, during the rotation of the rollers upon their own axes, the' sheet of paper 44 is held frictionally in contact with the rollers or sleeves 60. by the suction applied thereto through the connections indicated, as follows; 61, 62, 63, 64, 71, 67 65 and 66, The portions of the belt 68 which are not in'register with the connections 64:

are unapertured, so that as these sections of the belt 68 pass over the slot 67 they close such slot and prevent unnecessary leakage of air into the chamberedmember 65. When the slot 67 is not covered by any portion of the belt, the suction connection therewith is automatically broken by a device of any suit able character, which it is not deemed necessary here to illustrate.

IVhile we have herein indicated difierent embodiments of this invention, we wish to have it understood that the invention is not limited and restricted to the precise and exact structural features described and shown, because these may be varied within considerable limits without departure from the substance of the invention and without the sacrifice of any material benefits and advantages accruing from the invention.

We claim:

1. In a-device of the character described, the combination of a pair of sprocket chains, sprocket wheels co-acting with said chains, a plurality of rollers between and carried by portions of the lengths of said chains and adapted to over the deliv'erypile, means tocause said chains to travel, means to feed sheets of printing presses,

transport the sheets of paper paper on top of said rollers while said rollers are on the bottom stretch of their travel, means to cause said rollers to rotate on their own axes after the paper has reached a position above the delivery pile to permit the rollers to travel from beneath the paper and permit the latter to fall on the pile, and 'means carried by the paper conveyer for controlling the action of said roller-rotating means, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a pair of endless sprocket phains, sprocket wheels co-acting with-said chains, a plurality of rollers between and ,berried by portions of the length. of said .chains and adapted to support and transport the sheets of paper to the delivery pile, means to cause said chains to travel, means to feed sheets of paper on top-of said rollers while the rollers are on the bottom stretch of their travel, a bar mounted to move toward and from the rollers and to contact therewith while the paper is above the delivery-pile to cause said rollers to rotate and pass from beneath the paper to permit the latter to .fall on the delivery pile, and an enlargement on one of said rollers governing the contact of said bar with the companion rollers, substantially as described.

3. In a sheet delivery mechanism for the combination of a fly delivery device, an endless conveyer delivery device, and an immovable support for the latter, the endless conveyer mechanism being adapted to assume a position on said immovable support in which it will not interfere with the'operation of the fly device, substantially as described.

4. In a sheet delivery mechanism for printing presses, the combination of afly delivery device, a mutilated endless conveyer delivery device, and fixedly mounted supporting wheels for the latter positioned and arranged to permit the sheet-conveying part ofthe conveyer to be housed beneath the fly device during the operation of the latter, substantially as described. v

BURT-D. STEVENS.

MICHAEL ANDREW DROITCOUR.

\Vitnesses:

Enw. F. DUDLEY, \VALTER M. FULLER 

